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Castelgandolfo, Jul 23, 2008 / 08:15 pm (CNA).- Having returned from his visit to Australia for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI has moved to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. After three days of rest, he will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki on Friday and travel to the northern Italian town of Bressanone the following day.In Bressanone, a German-speaking town near the Italian border with Germany, the Pope will stay with his brother Father Georg Ratzinger in a medieval seminary from July 28 to August 11. According to ANSA news agency, a grand piano has been...

"(CNN) -- Italian newspapers, an archbishop and civil liberties campaigners expressed shock and revulsion on Monday after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Romany gypsy girls were laid out on the sand." "Two of them were pulled to safety but rescuers failed to reach the other two in time to save them. The Web site of the Archbishop of Naples said the girls were cousins named Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13. Their bodies were eventually laid out on the sand under beach towels...

Midnight, 19 May 1961. A crisp frost had descended on Turin’s city centre which was deserted and deathly silent. Well, almost. Two brothers, aged 20 and 23, raced through the grid-like streets (that would later be made famous by the film The Italian Job) in a tiny Fiat 600, which screamed in protest as they bounced across one cobbled piazza after another at top speed. The Fiat was loaded with dozens of iron pipes and aluminium sheets which poked out of windows and were strapped to the roof. The car screeched to a halt outside the city’s tallest block of...

Thousands of polygamous marriages like Hadi's have sprung up throughout Italy as a byproduct of a fast-paced and voluminous immigration by Muslims to this Roman Catholic country. Despite the obvious culture clash, Italian authorities largely turn a blind eye, leaving women in a murky semi-clandestine world with few rights and no recourse when things go especially badly, as they did in Hadi's case.

There are now images up of the priestly and other ordinations of the Institute of Christ the King (ICRSS) that took place inside the beautiful Santi Michele e Gaetano church in Florence, Italy. The ordaining bishops were Bishop Basil Meeking, Emeritus of Christchurch, and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke.

Gay godfathers are scared of coming out in the Italian Mafia for fear of being ridiculed or murdered, an anti-Mob prosecutor said. Antonio Ingroia, who has helped bring several bosses to justice, said: "Being gay is still a taboo for Italian society in general, let alone the Mafia, which is an archaic organisation. "These bosses have to cover their homosexuality; they're afraid because they risk being ridiculed and killed." Mr Ingroia said that the American Mafia had "a more broad-minded attitude towards gays and so gay bosses can come out." Gay mafiosi 'too scared to come out of closet'

Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- In a case that hearkens back to the international debate over the life and death of Terri Schiavo, a father in Italy has received permission from a court to take his daughter's life. Eluana Englaro has been in what doctors term a vegetative state for 16 years and has received food and water through a feeding tube. Beppino Englaro, Eluana's father, has been seeking the right to remove the feeding tube and starve and dehydrate Eluana to death in the same way as Schiavo. Schiavo's husband won that right after a years-long legal battle that made...

The President of the northern Italian city of Milan, Filippo Penati, has triggered widespread debate with a controversial proposal to fine Muslims who pray on the streets outside the city's mosque. According to authorities, the number of people praying on the sidewalk creates traffic and obstacles for pedestrians in the area surrounding the Viale Jenner mosque, a converted garage. "Article 190 of the law regarding the obstruction of streets should be applied immediately," said Penati. "I do not know or understand why the law has not been applied before," he said. "The municipality of Milan should apply the law and...

The White House was today forced to apologise to Italy after distributing a biography of Silvio Berlusconi to journalists which alleged that he only gained high office because of his "considerable influence” on the media. The press kit, which was handed out to reporters as they boarded Air Force One on the way to the G8 summit in Japan, also described the Italian Prime Minister as “one of the most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for governmental corruption and vice”. The White House was today investigating how the four-page biography was included in the pack after...

A controversial mosque in the Italian city of Milan is to be shut down, the country's right-wing government says. The Jenner mosque attracts about 4,000 Muslims each week, with Friday prayers often spilling out on to the street. Now, after years of complaints from local residents, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has said he will close the mosque by August. A leading Roman Catholic has accused Mr Maroni of behaving like a fascist. He has rejected that charge. Rendition The Jenner mosque is based in a converted garage. Since it opened as an Islamic cultural centre in 1988, it has...

A 15-year-old Pakistani girl who jumped from a balcony in northern Italy after refusing an arranged marriage says she wants to become an Italian citizen. "I no longer want to be Pakistani," said the girl, named only as 'Piccola' by Turin-based daily La Stampa. An investigation is being opened into Piccola's desperate attempt to escape the future her parents planned for her - marriage to a teenage Pakistani cousin. "They had agreed to marry me to my cousin, a 16-year-old who I don't love," she said. Piccola is currently in hospital with a broken leg after leaping from her family's...

A 15-year-old Pakistani girl was hospitalised after reportedly jumping from a balcony in the northern Italian town of Alessandria. She had refused an arranged marriage with a 16-year-old Pakistani. "My parents had already been in touch with his and told me I would be marrying him. I have nothing against him but I do not love him," Turin-based La Stampa daily quoted the girl as telling police from her hospital bed ... The previous centre-left Italian government issued a 'charter of values' for immigrants after the tragic case of another young Pakistani girl, Hina Saleem who was murdered by male...

The government of Italy has announced that it will send 2500 soldiers into "occupied" territories. Not in Iraq and not in Afghanistan. But right in Italy. That's right, with in their own country. For the rest.... http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2008/06/italy-to-send-troops-into-occupied.html

Italy to fingerprint all Roma gipsy children By Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 9:20PM BST 26/06/2008 Around 80,000 gipsy children are to be fingerprinted by the Italian authorities under a new scheme that has drawn comparisons to the policies of Benito Mussolini. Unicef said it was 'shocked and deeply worried' by Italy's plans to fingerprint all Roma children The Italian government has blamed immigrants, and particularly Roma gipsies, for the country's crime problems. Since Silvio Berlusconi became prime minister in April, gypsy camps in the south and north of the country have been burned by vigilante mobs. The home...

ROME — An exhibition of art from India was being installed here the other morning, at the Luigi Pigorini Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography. Beyond the mah-jongg, Chinese music and Andean ritual dancing displays, Putli Ganju; Juliette Fatima Imam; and Juliette’s mother, Philomina Tirkey Imam, were hanging their paintings of animals and fish. “You’re not my type,” the elder Ms. Imam said. She was explaining the meaning behind her work — simple, hieratic and airy — of a bird turning away from a deer. Ms. Ganju’s scene of jungle life, next to it, was more elaborate, with curlicues and filigree....

Soldiers could be sent into Italy's cities, illegal immigrants will be imprisoned and all non-serious court cases will be frozen for a year under new measures approved by Italy's senate. Police patrol a gypsy camp in Rome. Illegal immigrats could face four years in jail under the newly approved measures The senate voted 166 to 123 to approve a wide-ranging package of measures which will allow Silvio Berlusconi to govern Italy with an iron fist. Mr Berlusconi, 71, will now be able to use as many as 3,000 soldiers for up to six months in order to fight crime. Previously,...

I can't post any of the pictures that I want to, but they're remarkable. 13 June 2008: Strong Activity at the Fissure in Valle del Bove Here's another site from Volcano Discovery on the May 2008 eruptions that's similar. From: Etna eruption May 2008 Here's a couple of context images. The first shows where the Valle del Bove is. The second is from space, and the Valle del Bove is the broad dark-brown area to the right (east) of the summit craters.

European air force bases that store U.S. nuclear bombs are failing to meet basic security requirements to safeguard the weapons, according to a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The U.S. keeps an estimated 350 thermonuclear bombs in six NATO countries. In four of those — Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands — the weapons are stored at the host nation's air bases, where they are guarded by specially trained U.S. military personnel. But according to an internal U.S. Air Force report, the sites are falling short of Department of Defense requirements, with fencing and security systems in...

Ancient Italian villages are being turned into a new kind of hotel, where the rooms are spread out across town and you share the streets with residents. One of the best of these alberghi diffusi is Sextantio, in the Abruzzi mountains. by Reid Bramblett | July/August 2008 issue On the day he found Santo Stefano di Sessanio, the ancient Italian village that would change his life, Daniele Kihlgren was lost. He had set out on his motorcycle to explore the Abruzzi mountains, two hours east of Rome, and was trying to locate a back road from the ruins of a...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

ROME — Italy's defense chief says 2,500 soldiers will be deployed to some Italian cities to help fight crime. Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said Friday the soldiers will back up police. After six months, the deployment will be evaluated. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government is waging a security crackdown to improve safety. Some soldiers will go to Naples, where they will guard plants processing mountains of garbage. Neapolitans have taken to burning garbage in the streets to protest uncollected trash. It is not clear which other cities will receive soldiers.

Iran, Iraq and other hot spots topped discussions between U.S. President George Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Thursday in Rome. "We did have a wideranging discussion," Bush said during a news conference. "I appreciate very much the fact that Italy is meeting international obligations." Bush noted that U.S. citizens probably didn't realize how many Italian troops were deployed around the world, including 8,700 troops in areas such as Kosovo and Chad. "We talked about Iraq, how Iraq is changing for the better, how people are beginning to realize the blessings of a free and peaceful society," Bush said,...

Italy has hitched its wagon to the forthcoming French presidency of the European Union, declaring a new trade “axis” to push their case within the World Trade Organisation. Diplomats on Wednesday said a stronger protectionist stance against China, India and other developing countries was emerging under Italy’s new centre-right government. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, views Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, as an economic and security ally. In return, Italy is strongly supporting Mr Sarkozy’s controversial proposals for a “Mediterranean Union” that will be formally launched next month when Paris takes over the EU presidency. Italy is also backing a...

Today the President is in Italy continuing what many believe is his farewell European tour. He met with the Italian President and Primeminister plus attending a round table meeting with Italian entrepreneurs who have spent time working with U.S. companies in Silicon Valley. The First Lady and Secretary of State attended a conference at the Kleber international centre in Paris after which the First Lady travelled to Rome to attend a plenary session at the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome. Defense Secretary Robert Gates attended a NATO defence ministers' meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels

Italy has about 2,700 troops in Afghanistan but has so far -- like France, Germany and Spain -- been reluctant to send them to the south and east where the Taliban are most active. This has caused tension with the NATO command and Washington. Since coming to power in May, Berlusconi's government has talked of "limited" deployment to combat zones but Bush said he went further and talked of scrapping the so-called "caveat". "I appreciate very much the fact that the government announced to the parliament with your instructions, Mr Prime Minister, that the caveats that have restricted your forces...

"U.S. President George W. Bush talks with Italian entrepreneur Micol Macellari during a roundtable on business exchange Thursday, June 12, 2008 in Rome, Italy.""A demonstrator shouts slogans on a street leading to the US embassy in Rome, cordoned off by police, during an anti-Bush protest in Rome, Wednesday, June 11, 2008."

Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer is found in Italy By MARTA FALCONI , Associated Press Writer This undated photo provided by the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, Italy, Wednesday, June 11, 2008, shows a deer with a single horn in the center of its head. The one-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed 'Unicorn' - was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences, said. He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns. (AP Photo/Center of Natural Sciences)...

SALT LAKE CITY - University of Utah geneticist Mario Capecchi got a bonus after winning the Nobel Prize for medicine last fall: He learned he has a younger sister. Capecchi, 70, and half-sister Marlene Bonelli, 69, met last month in northern Italy. It was technically a reunion, but really more of an introduction; they were too young to remember when they were separated in the early days of World War II. Bonelli had long believed that Capecchi and their mother had died in the war, he told The Salt Lake Tribune. Capecchi's mother gave birth to Bonelli in 1939, when...

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of an interview of President Bush by Gianni Riotta, Rai TV,Italy: Map Room June 6, 2008 10:28 A.M. EDT Q Mr. President, the world has known tremendous change during your tenure, and three areas of concern remain:Iraq,Iran,Afghanistan. What's your assessment of those three theaters? And looking back in perspective, would you do anything different? THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's an interesting question on doing anything different. Of course, history is going to be the judge of that. But the decision, for example, onIraq to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision then and it's...

Every nation could be described as a manifestation of a unique trait of character and most countries furthermore nurture, give emphasize to and celebrate this national identity of theirs. Some examples of such key national characters (please DO comment if you feel inclined to); USA: Liberty Italy: Creativity France: Refinement India: Spirituality Germany: Self-discipline Finland: "Sisu" (a Finnish term meaning "To have guts") Britain: Elevatedness Denmark: "Hygge" (a Danish word meaning "Good-naturedness", of mind as well as of deed) Spain: Passion China: Cultivation Russia: Chaos - just joking, I would actually say "Heart" (in the sense of having a big...

"I was moved by his story, impressed by his bravery," Bambagiotti said on Memorial Day, standing on the lush green lawn among the sea of white headstones that mark the final resting places for 4,202 U.S. soldiers and airmen who perished in Italy fighting in World War II. The emergence of the Internet prompted Bambagiotti to seek out Lang’s surviving kin. Hundreds of searches, and about three years, netted the professor a clue to Lang’s surviving sister, who had supplied information for a research project by high school students in Avon, S.D. Bambagiotti drafted a typewritten letter, in not-so-perfect English,...

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."

The leaning tower of Pisa has been successfully stabilised and is out of danger for at least 300 years, said an engineer who has been monitoring the iconic Italian tourist attraction. "All of our expectations have been confirmed," Professor Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer and geologist, was quoted as telling Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera. The tower's tilt of about four metres off the vertical has remained stable in recent years, after a big engineering project that ended in 2001 corrected its lean by about 40 centimetres from where it was in 1990 when the project began. "Now we can...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has requested an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during his upcoming visit to Rome on June 3 to 5. Ahmadinejad has been granted visa to travel to Italy by Silvio Berlusconi’s government—a close U.S. ally— but only to attend the summit of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization summit, to be held in Rome from June 3 to 5. According to the Italian news Agency ANSA, the Iranian embassy in Rome has confirmed Ahmadinejad's request, but there has not been an official response from the Vatican. Italy's Secretary of State, Franco Frattini, said that the Iranian...

ITALY, which last week decided to embrace nuclear power two decades after a public referendum banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors, could be just the first of several European countries to reverse its stance on nuclear power, a leading industry group has said. Ian Hore-Lacey, spokesman for the London-based World Nuclear Association, said: "Italy has had the most dramatic, the most public turnaround, but the sentiments against nuclear are reversing very quickly all across Europe." When asked which natioADVERTISEMENTns were likely to join Britain and France as major producers of nuclear power, he replied: "Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany...

A leading Italian neo-fascist with a nine-year conviction for conspiracy after the bombing of Bologna train station in 1980 has taken a seat in the European Parliament. Roberto Fiore, 49, came to Britain in the wake of the bombing, which left 85 people dead and over 200 wounded. The attack was carried out by the Nucleus of Armed Revolutionaries, a far-Right terrorist group. Although Mr Fiore, a member of the Third Position cell, was not directly involved in the execution of the bombing, he was convicted for conspiring to carry out an armed attack. He lived in the UK for...

The Italian government said Thursday it would begin building nuclear power stations, reversing a 20-year ban in an initiative likely to spark strong resistance and take a long time to come to fruition. "During the term of this parliament, we will lay the first stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear power stations," Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola told the Italian employers' federation Confindustria. "We can no longer avoid an action plan for a return to nuclear power," he said, recalling a campaign pledge by Italy's newly named right-wing prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to...

Silvio Berlusconi declares Naples street rubbish dumps 'military no-go zones' By Malcolm Moore in Naples Last Updated: 10:30PM BST 21/05/2008 Silvio Berlusconi promised to wash Italy clean of fear and use "absolute firmness" against any dissent. The 71-year-old prime minister held the first meeting of his new cabinet in rubbish-strewn Naples in order to resolve the city's perennial problems of crime and unemployment. At the end of the five-hour meeting, Mr Berlusconi promised to govern the city and the country with an iron fist. "We have painful tasks ahead, but we will act with unswerving determination," he said. He reclassified...

Ethnic food may be removed from government schools in the Italian capital, Rome, in the latest gesture by the city's new centre-right government to target multiculturalism. Laura Marsilio, city councillor for schools in Rome, said the local government would re-evaluate the ethnic menus of public schools, and replace it with what she called "Italian regional dishes as well as typical mediterranean cuisine." Marsilio spoke to the media on Monday and said that the 'ethnic menus', introduced by the previous centre-left government of Romano Prodi "gave insufficient results." Marsilio reportedly also plans to look at centres where parents of immigrant children...

The government of Oppenao (Verona), Italy, refused to build a mosque and is about to build instead a plaza in honor of author Oriana Fallaci, Italy's La Republicca reports. On May 17, bulldozers destroyed the little building that was used as a preach room and which was thought by Oppenao's muslims to become a mosque. The Oppenao mayor told journalists his citizens didn't want the mosque and they supported the idea of honoring Fallaci instead. Oriana Fallaci is known for her fight against islam. She died of cancer in 2006.

ROME, Italy (May 19) - The U.S. military in Naples is testing tap water and soil because of health worries from that city's pileup of sometimes smoldering rubbish. Samples were taken earlier this month from sinks and yards of residences used by Navy and civilian military employees, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Wendy Snyder said Sunday. The samples were sent to Germany for laboratory analyses, and the results are expected later this month or in early June, Snyder said. "We just want to take a look at what the potential risks are," Snyder said in a telephone interview. She said Navy...

[translation thanks to Gates of Vienna] Oriana Fallaci Square in place of the mosque VERONA — Goodbye mosque. In its place, Oriana Fallaci Square. This decision was taken by the committee of Oppeano (Verona, Italy), where yesterday morning a building used by Muslims for prayer was bulldozed. In its place, the Municipality will create a public square named after the writer of The Rage and the Pride, which promoted a bitter campaign against Islam. The decision to raze the structure which had been opened by ONLUS [translator’s note: Organizzazione Non Lucrativa di Utilita’ Sociale, a non-profit registered Italian charity] “For...

GENOA, Italy (CNS) -- At first glance, Pope Benedict XVI's two-day visit to the northern Italian city of Genoa seemed designed to highlight the ascendancy of the region's prelates in his pontificate. The pope chose Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former archbishop of Genoa, as his secretary of state. He named the new head of the archdiocese, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops' conference. And the archdiocese's liturgist, Msgr. Guido Marini, is now the master of papal liturgical ceremonies at the Vatican. But for all the local pride it evoked, the pope's May 17-18 visit had broader implications and...

MILAN, May 15 (Reuters) - Italy's new foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said he wanted his country to join the United States and other European powers in being "very firm" on Iran. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, he also said he wanted Italy to become a "facilitator" between Iran and the United States to improve dialogue between the two countries. "Italy will push forwards to be really in the club on Iran," he was quoted as saying. "Italy will not be left isolated by a restricted group of European partners plus the United States." The five...

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police announced on Thursday the arrest of hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants in a sign of the new right-wing government's determination to clamp down. Police arrested 383 people including 268 foreigners, with 53 immediately taken to the border for expulsion, in a week-long operation stretching from northern Italy to the Naples area. Silvio Berlusconi swept back to power for a third term as prime minister last week promising to get tough on illegal immigrants, blamed by many for crime. He is readying new laws to screen immigrants and jail or expel those breaking the law. Those...

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanos are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Gutierrez (CHILE) The Etna volcano in Sicily rumbled back to life on Tuesday with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said three days after minor eruptions shook the cone. A "seismic...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

ROME: Silvio Berlusconi was sworn in Thursday as prime minister of Italy for the third time in his political career, after forming one of Italy's most rightist cabinets since World War II. "We're in a honeymoon period," Berlusconi said, adding that he intended to pick up where he left off in 2006, when he failed to be re-elected after a five-year term. He also served as prime minister from 1994 to 1995. "We have 100 days to avoid disappointing those who put their faith in us, and five years to change and modernize this country," he was quoted by the...

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano opened the prestigious Turin book fair Thursday amid opposition from Muslims and the Italian Left over the choice of Israel as the event's guest of honor. "No dialogue is possible if there is a refusal to recognize Israel," Napolitano said at Israel's stand at the fair, the European Jewish Press reported. Napolitano added that there can be no "rejection of the reasons for [Israel's] birth or of its right to exist in peace and security." Like the Paris book fair in March, the Turin fair is honoring the modern state of Israel on the 60th anniversary...

Italy readying evacuation plan for Lebanon May 9, 2008 ROME (Reuters) - Italy's foreign ministry said on Friday it was preparing an evacuation plan for its nationals in the Lebanese capital Beirut, where Hezbollah fighters and pro-government gunmen have been battling for three days. A ministry spokesman said the plan was not operational yet and would be enforced only if necessary. He said Italians in certain parts of the city were being offered safe shelter if they wanted to leave their homes. "I wouldn't call it at this phase an evacuation. We are ready for that, we are preparing it...