SONDRIO – A night-time collision between two vehicles on the Stelvio highway has left six people dead, local police report on Monday.
A 52-year-old man was driving one of the cars, while five people between 26 and 33 were in the other vehicle. According to police sources, the collision was caused by one of the vehicles driving in the wrong direction towards a junction.
ROME - Italian radio journalist Antonio Megalizzi, who was critically injured in the Strasbourg attack on Tuesday night, has died in hospital. It was reported on Thursday that surgeons were unable to operate on him "due to the position of the bullet, which reached the column at the base of the skull, near the spine." Antonio was hit in the head by a bullet during the Christmas markets shooting.
ROME - An unanticipated amount of damage was inflicted upon Trastevere by Eintracht Frankfurt fans on Thursday, both before and after the Europa League match against Lazio. According to a report by Corriere Della Sera, a gang of 20 charged the streets armed with bottles and bats, leaving three people severely injured.
The incident has sparked tension between Italian and German authorities, for the Italians had not been informed about the large influx of notoriously aggressive German fans.
ROME - Brazilian Supreme Court judge Luis Fux has ordered the arrest of fugitive terrorist Cesare Battisti, paving the way to his extradition. The measure, long sought after by Italian authorities, had been recommended weeks ago by attorney general Raquel Dodge “to avoid the risk of Battisti’s escape.”
ROME - To the dismay of tourists and residents alike, Barberini metro station has become an 'exit-only' stop, and Spagna remains closed. The two metropolitan line A stations closed on Tuesday due to a technical failure, leaving the city centre "deserted." Reppublica station has been closed since Oct. 23, following the collapse of one of its escalators.
Only two central metro stations are functioning as normal: Termini and Flaminio.
ROME - Members of the League breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday, as it was announced that the Scuola Normale in Pisa would not be opening a second branch in Naples. The idea had been raised by the school’s chancellor Vincenzo Barone, but despite backing from the President of the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) Gaetano Manfredi, it had received a predominantly negative response from ministers.
ROME – Raffaele Marra, the former right-hand man of mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi, has been handed a jail sentence of three years and six months for corruption, judicial sources report.
The former chief-of-staff reportedly received payments of up to 370,000 euros from housing developer Sergio Scarpellini in 2013, on the condition that Marra, also in charge of housing policy at the time, provided public contracting work.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has removed esteemed cardinals including George Pell from the C-9 (Council of Cardinals) following a string of sexual abuse accusations against their names. The cardinals, who have been tangled up in allegations of paedophilia for some time now, will not be replaced by new members any time soon, according to a Vatican representative.
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican is addressing its long-standing fiscal difficulties head on by forcing many of its employees into early retirement, Il Messaggero reports.
The high number of staff members in the Vatican, combined with a recent downturn in revenues, has left the state unable to balance its books for some time.
