VATICAN CITY – “Communication is a tool to build, not to destroy; to meet, not to clash; to discuss, not to monologize; to orient, not to disorient; to understand each other, not to misunderstand; to walk in peace, not to sow hatred; to give a voice to those who have no voice, not to be the megaphone for those who shout louder." Such was Pope Francis’ message to members of the Foreign Press in Italy, as he discussed the role of journalism and the media in the 21st century.
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME - Divisions in Italy’s coalition government were, once more, plain to see as Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio clashed over the disembarkation of migrants from a seized NGO rescue ship despite Italy’s ports ostensibly remaining closed.
20 May 2019
Insider reporters
SAN MARINO - Hot Giro d’Italia favourite Primož Roglič oozed class as he continued his fantastic early season form to win two stages in the opening week of the grand tour. Coming into the Giro having won every stage race he has started so far this year, Roglič stamped his authority on the race in the very first stage, blowing his closest competitors away over a short but punchy opening 8-kilometre time trial in Bologna.
20 May 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
LEGNANO - Matteo Salvini’s League have been hit by once more by a political scandal after the Mayor of Legnano was placed under house arrest for alleged corruption. The local councillor for public works and the local budget councillor, both of the Forza Italia party, have also been detained and are under house arrest and in prison respectively, police sources said.
Gianbattista Fratus, Legnano’s Mayor and a member of the League party, is accused of electoral corruption and, according to prosecutors, “a very scarce sense of legality.”
19 May 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – The government’s sale of arms to Riyadh is once again a cause of controversy, as Five Star move to block the deals in parliament and port authorities in Genoa threaten to boycott a suspect ship.
Italy has sold arms to Saudi Arabia since Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s series of deals in 2016, which were worth some 411 million euros. This has always been a sensitive topic, since the Saudi Arabian government is widely believed to use them against civilians in Yemen, and is posed to once again become a serious cause of division within government.
18 May 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – Leonardo, a defence-contractor which is partly government owned, paid 171 million euros in 2017 to unidentified intermediaries while selling Eurofighter jets to Kuwait, reported Il Fatto Quotidiano. Law 185 in Italy, which governs the sale of arms to foreign powers, allows the company to say nothing further on the identity or activity of the supposed brokers.
18 May 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
NAPLES - Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini was welcomed to Campania by widespread demonstrations while in Naples on official business on Thursday.
A procession of hundreds of protestors marched through the streets of the city before settling in Piazza del Plebiscito, in front of the Prefecture where Salvini, in his capacity as Interior Minister, was attending a meeting on public order and security.
18 May 2019
Edwin Audland
ROME - Club legend Daniele De Rossi is set to leave AS Roma this summer following 18 seasons with the club. His departure, however, has been overshadowed by club’s handling of the matter which sparked outcry amongst Roma’s tifosi.
De Rossi, who joined Roma in 2000, has been a stalwart of the club’s success in the 21st-century and has won the Coppa Italia twice and the Supercoppa once with the Giallorossi during that time.
18 May 2019
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – Following reports from Repubblica on new government plans for the Italian intelligence agencies, the Democratic Party (PD) has gone on the offensive. PD head in the Senate Luigi Zanda was vocal in his criticisms of the plans and called for clarity from Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in parliament.
16 May 2019