Beppe Zaccaria, who has died at age 69, was a star foreign correspondent for la Stampa newspaper covering the Balkans and the Middle East with distinction throughout the disintegration of Yugoslavia. He went on to become effectively an informal ambassador to the West in Belgrade using his formidable knowledge of the seductive city and his beloved Serbia to facilitate business, cultural and diplomatic contacts with Rome and the EU.
John Phillips
25 Apr 2020
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – Liberation Day, which usually entails a traditional procession to Piazzale Ostiense to commemorate the end of World War II in Italy, will instead involve the small ceremony of a wreath placement on Saturday morning, as authorities prepare to shut down opportunities for celebrations and social gatherings outside Rome by strengthening controls on all unwarranted travel over the weekend, under directives from the Italian Interior Ministry.
24 Apr 2020
INSIDER NEWSDESK
CAIRO – Patrick Zaki, the Egyptian student from the University of Bologna, held in an Egyptian prison in on charges of subversive propaganda, with stay there for another 15 days, prompting his family to launch an appeal and write a letter to the Italian ambassador to Egypt, Giampaolo Cantini, asking him to put pressure on the Egyptian government, reports Amnesty International.
23 Apr 2020
Jack Morgan Jones
ROME – In the Middle East, the effects of the coronavirus are creating new regional challenges and potentialities, and this was the subject under discussion in the fifth online event in a series hosted by the Euro-Gulf Information Centre (EGIC) in collaboration with the NATO Defence College Foundation. The panel of speakers included: Lina Aburous, Managing Director at ‘Euraffex’; Oded Eran, Senior Research Fellow at the ‘Institute for National Security Studies’; Umberto Profazio, Maghreb Analyst in ‘NATO Defense College Foundation’; and Ahmed Al Baz, Director at the ‘Early Warning Centre’.
22 Apr 2020
Insider reporters
ROME -- The annual FAO Council scheduled for June likely will be cancelled as Italy discourages large gatherings at the Rome-based UN agencies while FAO chief Qu Dongyu evidently has not disclosed the full extent of Coronavirus infections among staff of the organization, FAO sources say.
Mr Dongyu paid tribute in a tweet last month to a heating engineer from the agency who died from coronavirus March 9, Adrian Kazazi. But at least two other FAO staffers have become seriously ill with Covid, the sources said.
11 Apr 2020
JAN FILIPOWICZ
ROME – The appointment of convicted Russian moneylaunderer Vladimir Kusnetsov to the FAO finance committee was opposed in vain by the United States and FAO’s new Chinese Qu Dongyu has turned a blind eye to the criminal’s daughter Alexandra Kusnetsova serving as an influential staff member of human resources at the UN agency, FAO sources say.
13 Feb 2020
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME -- Diplomats from Costa RIca, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Romania and China are among envoys who have failed to upgrade their subscriptions to Italian Insider’s modest diplomatic subscription rate despite repeated requests to pay the correct fee, the newspaper's subscription department says.
15 Nov 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – “Serie A starts again on June 20,” said the Italian Minister of Sport, Vincenzo Spadafora, after a conference call with the members of the Italian Football Federation (Figc) and Serie A on Thursday evening. The semi-finals of the Italian cup are also set to start again on June 13, with Naples taking on Inter Milan, and with Juventus against AC Milan, reports La Repubblica. The stadiums will be divided into three areas which will contain no more than 333 people in all.
29 May 2020
Gianfranco Nitti
ROME – After a period of closure due to the epidemic, the Colosseum Archaeological Park, PArCo, will reopen to the public on June 1 while ensuring the safety of staff and visitors. Protections were assured by way of a memorandum of understanding between them and the ASL Roma 1, which will guarantee medical-health protection and lay out new routes and different ways of accessing the historic site. Tickets can be purchased online from Thursday.
28 May 2020