ROME - The Italian Ministry of Defence has confirmed that it will now pay its debt to American manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp for the F-35 fighter jets that it bought.
The order of the jets has been a hotly contested one since the 5-Star Movement rose to power after last year’s general election. The party greatly disagreed with the purchase in the first place, and would have liked to see the money, around 370 million euros, go towards welfare and improving Italian society as a whole.
ROME – A new ticketing plan for the Eternal City’s Colosseum has been presented which not only increases entry prices but also introduces additional types of tickets.
From November the “basic” ticket for the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine Hill will increase from 12 to 16 euros.
Also from November, the “full experience” ticket will be introduced at a price of 22 euros which will be a two-day ticket allowing a more complete visit of the archaeological site.
ROME - Ukraine's Ministry of Culture has put Italian singer Albano Carrisi, better known by his stage name Al Bano, on the “black list” of individuals considered a threat to national security.
Al Bano and his ex-wife Romina Power were famous in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s and are still popular in Russia. The Apulian singer is notoriously a supporter of Vladimir Putin, for whom he has never hidden his political sympathies.
ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) has revealed the identities of the seven WFP staff members, from Italy, Indonesia, China, Ireland, Nepal and Serbia, who lost their lives in the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy Sunday.
Five of the seven WFP colleagues who were killed in the tragedy had their duty station in Rome; Maria Pilar Buzzetti, aged 30 from Italy, Virginia Chimenti aged 26 from Italy, Harina Hafitz, aged 59 from Indonesia, Zhen-Zhen Huang, aged 46 from China, and Michael Ryan, aged 39 from Ireland.
MILAN - The renowned La Scala opera house is at the heart of now national row over the possible election of Saudi Arabia's culture minister to the venue’s board.
The news broke early in March when La Scala chief executive and artistic director Alexander Pereira spoke out on the matter, revealing that the opera house could stand to gain up to 15 million euros investment over a 5-year period were Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud to be given a seat on the board.
LOMBARDY - 19 arrests have been made in Lombardy and Calabria in connection with ‘Ndrangheta activity in the Northern region.
The arrests took place on Monday morning on account of alleged aggravated extortion, damage by fire, and accounts of money laundering.
It is thought that the case involves incidents dating back to 2015 primarily related to the transport of fruit and vegetable goods.
ROME - It has been confirmed that the silhouettes spotted on Nanga Parbat on Thursday were indeed the bodies of the two missing climbers.
Italian Daniele Nardi and his companion Tom Ballard had been missing since they lost radio contact with base camp while attempting a new route up the world’s ninth highest mountain on 24 February.
The search was called off after a lack of positive results, however Basque climber Alex Txikon and his rescue team continued to search for the two men from the peak’s base camp with telescopes.
ROME - Juventus took another big step towards retaining their Serie A crown as nearest rivals Napoli faltered again to increase the gap at the top of the table to 18 points.
Juventus, coming off the back of a hard-fought 2-1 win at Napoli last weekend, hosted a struggling Udinese side who have only won 6 times in the league this season.
ROME - Two young women from the Eternal City working for the World Food Programme (WFP) were among eight Italian citizens killed in the plane crash in Ethiopia Sunday. Pilar Buzzetti and Virginia Chimenti were aged 30 and 31.
Pilar Buzzetti had been working for more than three years at the United Nations (UN) WFP and had also been a consultant for the study, research and internationalisation of the agency in Eurasia and Africa.
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