ROME -- The ECB has decided that, as of Jan. 27 as many as 17 of the 19 national central banks in the euro area will no longer issue 500 banknotes, officials say. In order to ensure a smooth transition and for logistical reasons, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank will continue issuing the notes until April 26.
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME --A strong earthquake tremor measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale shook an area on the border between the regions of Abruzzo and Lazio Tuesday, sending residents rushing into the streets, seismologists said.
The epicentre of the tremor that happened at 7:37 p.m. was at Collelongo in the province of L'Aquila at a depth of 17 km and the tremor was felt from Avezzano and Sora to Cassino and Frosinone as well as areas south west of Rome and as far away as Formia and Pescara.
jp
2 Jan 2019
Insider reporters
VATICAN CITY -- The American head of the Vatican press office, Greg Burke, has resigned together with his deputy, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, the Vatican announced Monday, as the firece infighting between detractors and supporters of Pope Francis evidently intensified.
Alessandro Gisotti, formerly responsible for social media in the Holy See, was named interim director of the Holy See press office.
31 Dec 2018
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME -- Marches for peace around the world organised by the St Egidio Community will take place Tuesday Jan. marking the start of 2019 in hundreds of countries under the flag of Pope Francis’ peace message “PACE IN TUTTE LE TERRE” (Peace in all lands), organisers from the Roman Catholic movement said.
In Rome, the march will start at 10:30 a.m. in Largo Giovanni XXIII (start of Via della Conciliazione) moing to St Peter’s square to listen to Pope Francis’ Angelus prayer.
31 Dec 2018
JAN FILIPOWICZ
ROME – Brazilian FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva, preparing to step down in 2019, secretly has appointed his Uruguayan chef de cabinet Mario Lubetkin to the position of Assistant Director General , evidently to curry favour with the left-wing authorities in Montevideo, diplomatic sources say.
29 Dec 2018
Philip Willan
ROME - A giant Australian steer named Knickers recently became an internet star because of his huge bulk, but Italian famers insist their own Chianina oxen are the largest cattle breed in the world.
Standing 1.94 metres tall at the shoulder and weighing 1,400 kilos, Knickers is exceptionally large for his Holstein Friesian breed and his black and white frame was set off to advantage against the small brown Wagyu cattle who were grazing around him in photos that went viral on internet. The Wagyus were six years younger than Knickers and grow to a maximum height of 1.40 metres.
29 Dec 2018
Insider View
ROME - Virginia Raggi was “ready to restore Rome to the splendour it deserves” in May 2016 upon her municipal election victory. Yet Rome's streets continue to overflow with rotting waste and rampant rodents. Indeed, the Eternal City perhaps better resembles a modern ruin than an ancient one.
Raggi’s administrative proposals have been slammed by Romans and mainstream media alike. She has been at the centre of critical scrutiny, labelled a “hot potato” by one publication, “a great disappointment” by another. Yet is it not time we cut her some slack?
29 Dec 2018
Insider reporters
FLORENCE -- Around 7 a.m. on Thursday a truck driver hit one of the supporting pillars of the Vasari corridor, the passageway which connects the Uffizi museum to Palazzo Pitti, crossing the Arno river. The corridor was designed in the 16th century by architect and art critic Giorgio Vasari and is considered a pearl of Florentine renaissance style architecture.
29 Dec 2018
Insider reporters
ROME -- Silvia Romano, the 23 year-old volunteer abducted by gunmen in Kenya last November, is alive and is in Kenya, says Noah Mwivanda, Kenyan Coast Regional Police Commander. Since Nov. 20, the police have been searching the area surrounding the village of Chakama, 80 km from Malindi, where she was kidnapped.
28 Dec 2018